S.F. man held in power-drill attack on brother

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A San Francisco man is in custody after allegedly trying to drill a hole in his brother’s face with a cordless power drill after they got in a fight over a door latch.

As police tell it, 57-year-old Kevin Guerin of San Francisco was staying with his brother on the 100 block of Judson Avenue in the Sunnyside district. Things were going well until around 9:40 p.m. Sunday, when Guerin removed a piece of tape his 61-year-old brother had been using to secure a bathroom door latch.

The two got into an argument about the tape and the brother got out his electric drill to fix the latch.

“He retained the drill intending to fix the lock,” said Sgt. Michael Andraychak, a police spokesman. “I think it was one of those things, removing the tape, maybe, finally got him to fix it.”

The problem was that the two hadn’t settled the underlying argument, whatever it was, Andraychak said.

Enraged, Guerin grabbed his brother, forced him into the master bedroom, pinned him down on the bed and revved the drill in his face, intending to puncture him, Andraychak said.

“Fortunately, the drill bit fell out,” Andraychak said.

So Guerin used the drill as a club and smacked his brother in the face, police said.

The brother, whose name police have not released, managed to get away and call police. Officers arrested Guerin without incident. He’s been booked on one count each of attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and making threats.

His brother was taken to the hospital with minor facial injuries, and is expected to make a full recovery.